Mitchell found the dwarf’s accent much easier to comprehend than Nothok’s had been. The consonants were a little softer, and the vowels not so stretched as what he’d heard from the old shopkeeper in Belikir. It put him at ease slightly as he became less worried about understanding him and being understood himself.

“If it be Stollar’s will,” Mitchell said. “We would like a room for one night, maybe two.”

“Your nicest, if it’s available,” Lethlin added. “We’ve been traveling awhile and want to enjoy our rest.”

“Aye, it’s available. One crown, two silver, if it be Stollar’s will.”

“A night?” Lethelin asked with a tone in her voice that told Mitchell she intended to talk the dwarf down.

“Aye.”

“Hmm…” Lethelin said, her finger to her lips.

Releasing Mitchell’s hand, she gave him a little wink and strolled casually up to the table where the innkeeper was staring at a collection of white and black marbles.

“I like your Iva board. Is that made of blackmoor oak?”

The dwarf looked up and gave a curt nod.

“It’s blackmoor, aye. Got it of an elven trader about three high suns back. You’ve a good eye.”

“Hmm,” Lethelin said, her voice non-committal. “And onyx and quartz garms. This is quite nice. Must have cost you several crowns.”

“It would have, aye. But I played him for it. In the end, he owed me twelve crowns and first pick of his goods the next time he rolled through the town.”

The dwarf leaned back at that, looking very satisfied. Then, he jumped slightly and leaned over to turn the crank to rotate the large carcass another quarter turn.

“Apologies. Tonight’s, dinner, aye. Can’t be lettin’ it burn. Wife be shaving my beard and feeding it to me if I did, aye.”

Lethelin chuckled.

“No, can’t have that. Sorry if I distracted you. It really is a beautiful set, though.”

“Not being a problem, young miss.”

“And…” she said casually. “This is the Three Dragons problem if I’m not mistaken?” Then she jumped slightly, as if startled.

“Oh, my!” she said with a bashful smile so good, Mitchell would have believed it if he hadn’t already known her. “Under the sun, where are my manners? I’m Sitha. That handsome burly man behind me is my betrothed, Jurgan.”

Lethelin turned back and gave Mitchell a big smile.

“Jurgan love, come say hello to our host!”

Mitchell trotted up, trying to suppress his smile and stood next to Lethelin.

“Stollar’s blessings upon you,” Mitchell said as correctly as he could manage. “This is a fine inn you have.”

The dwarf stood up then, a smile splitting his face.

“My manners as well, aye. Name’s Elgrin Giantborn. Be welcome!”

The dwarf touched his thick and calloused thumb to his heart and forehead as Mitchell had seen Allora do on occasion. Lethelin and Mitchell both repeated the gesture, although Mitchell wasn’t as smooth about it as they were. He hadn’t practiced it much.

“Stollar’s blessings on you as well, this fine day,” Elgrig continued, then turned a piercing black eye on Lethelin. “And you are right indeed, Miss Sitha. It is the Three Dragons problem. You know Iva well, then?”

“Oh, no,” Lethelin said with a self-effacing laugh. “I just dabble here and there. I’ve never been that good. My father was quite the player though. The Three Dragons always got the better of him. He taught me a bit here and there and I almost beat him a few times, but just between you and me, I think he was going easy on me.”

The dwarf nodded sagely.

“Aye, the Three Dragons has had me stumped for well on a year now. But if you are good enough to recognize it, perhaps you’d fancy a game or two? Been awhile since I had a real challenge?”

Lethelin arched one coppery red eyebrow.

“I could be persuaded, if Jurgan doesn’t mind.” she looked up to him. “What do you think, love? Can you keep yourself busy while I play with our host? I promise I won’t wager too much coin?”

“Wager, you say?” Elgrin perked up. “Liking the sound of that already, aye.”

Mitchell had absolutely no idea what was going on, but he was definitely enjoying the show. He decided to run with it.

“If you like. But just remember what happened last time? I still haven’t found boots as good as the ones you lost to that ship captain?”

Lethelin’s eyes sparkled, pleased to see him joining in and she quickly replaced her smile with a sorrowful frown.

“I am sorry about that, love. I promise I won’t wager your clothes this time.”

Mitchell saw that Elgrin was listening quite intensely while trying to look like he wasn’t. Lethelin had him. He knew her well enough to know that she would never have done something like this unless she was working the dwarf over. So what the hell, Mitchell thought. Let her have her fun. And, truth be told, he really wanted to see her do her thing.

A loud voice exploded from behind the bar causing all three of them jump.

“Elgrin! You stone-brained fool of a fisher’s-son! The meat!”

Mitchell looked to see a dwarven woman roughly equal in height and build to Elgrin but with blonde hair like spun gold thread. She had eyes the color of the deepest sapphire blue and her skin was more the color of marble than her husband’s ruddy tan.

Elgrin almost dove for the crank, giving it a hasty quarter turn.

“Sorry, diamond of my heart, aye! Was just greeting our guests.”

“I swear to Stollar, Denass, and the moons, if you ruin another takir you’ll be on the spit next!”

“Promises, my most beautiful gemstone, aye!”

Elgrin was actually sweating now, for reasons that had nothing to do with the coals.

The woman grumbled something under her breath, snatched an empty tankard off the bar, and stalked back into what Mitchell presumed was the kitchen.

“Ah, yes,” he said slowly and Mitchell got to see a dwarf blush. “That’s me wife, aye. Bari. I love her like the pick loves the stone, but…” he glanced quickly at the kitchen door then back, dropping his voice to a near whisper“… she’ll be the death of me, she will, aye.”

“She seems lovely,” Lethelin said with a wink. “But if you’ve got time for that game, I’ll make sure you don’t forget the meat.”

“Aye, I think that would be agreeable. Shall we start with two copper a garm?”

Lethelin made a worried face and then glanced nervously at Mitchell before looking away.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Two copper sounds good.”

“I’ll just be over here,” Mitchell said. “Good luck, Sitha.”

“Thank you, love.”

Elgrin picked up one onyx stone and one quartz and put his hands behind his back, then brought them forward.

“Which will it be, aye?”

Lethelin tapped his left hand and he produced the quartz. Then they set to arranging the pieces.

Mitchell posted up at a table nearby, close enough to observe but not so close as to be a nuisance.

The game seemed to consist of moving one, two, or three of your marbles—apparently called garms – diagonally over the board in a line and into a line of the other side’s garms, with the goal of knocking the other player’s stones off the board and into a tray that ran around the edge. The trick was that you needed one more stone in your row than were in the opponent’s row. One black garm could not push one white garm and vice versa, but two could. The most it appeared you could move in a row was three and they could not push an opposing three. If it looked like a player was moving two into position to bump your one, you could move one stone behind that one to support it. That would block an advance but also block you as well.

Lethelin was true to her word and reminded Elgrin every few minutes to check the meat and that earned her quite a few gracious smiles as he tended to get lost in the strategy. She celebrated enthusiastically when she knocked off some of his stones, calling to Mitchell to join in her success, and then pouted in a suitably adorable manner when he knocked off her garms.

Despite what looked to be early success on Lethelin’s part, soon Elgrin was chasing her all over the board and had all of her stones knocked off into the tray in short order.

He sat back with a grin but also looked at her in a new light.

“You had me worried there for a bit, I will admit, aye. But it didn’t take me long to spot your style. It’s one a lot of younger players use, aye.”

Lethelin looked pensive.

“I rushed, didn’t I?”

Elgrin chuckled.

“That you did, young miss, aye. Takes time to learn patience in Iva. Early success can sometimes lull players into a false sense of confidence.”

“You sound like my father,” she said warmly. “He said the same thing. Shall we play again? I know I can do better!”

“Aye, sounds good.”

They did the math on the number of stones knocked off and Lethelin owed him eight copper at the end after deducting the requisite copper for the ones she’d managed to knock off. Almost a full silver piece. Not exactly a paltry sum for a single game.

They quickly reset the board and began again.

Lethelin played much more conservatively this time. There were no shouts and cheers and she did seem to be giving Elgrin a run for his money. At the end of the second game, she only owed him four copper. She was now into him for one silver, and two copper.

“It’s coming back to me now,” she told Elgrin who seemed to be really enjoying himself. “It has been some years and Jurgan has no head for Iva so I haven’t been able to play much since I left home.”

“Aye, much better that second time, Miss Sitha, much better. Still some holes in your defense but I think with some practice you could be quite good. Not enough to best me, I don’t think, aye. But I would enjoy the games!”

“Good master Elgrin, that sounds like a challenge to me. Careful now. That’s how I got Jurgan to be my betrothed. He thought he could best me in archery. You’re quite handsome as well. I could always use a second husband.”

Elgrin blushed a deep crimson.

“Aye, now. I do be well and truly bonded to my lovely Bari. But if it be a challenge you’re after, how about we up the stakes a wee bit, aye? I suspect true competition brings out the best in you, aye? Tell me I’m wrong?”

Lethelin gave him a sly look.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Aye… Let’s say five copper a garm?”

Lethelin starred at him with a frown creasing her full lips. Mitchell suddenly caught motion down near her thigh, under the table where Elgrin couldn’t see. She was beckoning to Mitchell and pointing at herself. He stared, not sure what she was trying to tell him and as the seconds ticked by, her pointing got more frantic.

Mitchell suddenly jumped up.

“Uhh… Sitha, my moon and stars, don’t you think that’s a little too much.”

“Nonsense,” she said and looked at him like he had interrupted at the worst possible time. “Elgrin is right. You know I do better when I’m under pressure. Please don’t bother me now.”

“But Sith—”

“Do sit down!” she snapped at him and waved her hand to shoo him away. “You’ll keep your bloody boots, don’t worry.”

Sensing the part he suspected she wanted him to play, he went along.

“Yes, dear.”

Elgrin chuckled as Mitchell went back to his seat and he saw a hungry look in the dwarf’s dark black eyes.

“Five copper per garm. Deal.”

The two of them began to draw a crowd. Elgrin got one of the customers to mind the food with the promise of some free ale as long as he didn’t burn it. Then, final distraction eliminated, they began. Barely a word was spoken between the two of them as they pushed their garms across the board. They were both hunched over the board starring intensely at their stones as if they could divine the future from the patterns. It got down to the wire but Elgrin managed to eke out a victory, though Lethelin made him work for it.

“Again!” Lethelin called, and she sounded almost angry.

They tallied up the total subtracted to the amount owed and gave the figures to another customer who was now keeping track with a slate and some chalk. Mitchell had faith in Lethelin, although truth be told there were moments of doubt creeping in. The bill was getting a little high.

It was halfway through the next game when Mitchell noticed Bari standing next to him and glaring down at her husband. Her arms were crossed over an ample chest but she saw that the meat was being tended so apparently didn’t have any reason to interrupt the game. And drink orders were picking up. Several of the crowd had ale cups in their hands and serving girls had materialized from somewhere.

“That man will be the death of me,” she mumbled to herself before walking back to the kitchen.

It was two more games before Lethelin won her first round. Several of the customers, some of whom had been drawn in from outside, cheered at her victory. She had only barely won though, shaving fifteen copper off the ninety she already owed him. Nearly a full gold crown, if Mitchell remembered his conversions correctly. Ten copper to a silver, ten silver to a gold. It was ten gold to a platinum, but he’d yet to see anyone carrying around platinum pieces.

Around and around they went for the next hour. Lethelin would win a round, shaving off a little more of her debt, then lose a round. Mitchell wasn’t sure because the amounts changed so quickly, but it seemed that Lethelin was slowly winning back more than she lost. He grinned. Then, at the end of one game, she was miraculously in the black. Not only did she win back all that she’d lost but, according to one of the humans keeping track, Elgrin now owed her a silver.

“Stollar’s balls!” Elgrin said, although Mitchell wasn’t sure if it was in surprise or consternation.

“We can stop, if you like, good master Elgrin. We’ve had a merry run.”

Lethelin took a long pull from her ale mug that someone had brought her. Elgrin matched her with a pull from his own.

“Just getting good, young miss. Just getting good, aye. Again?”

Lethelin lost again, but only by two garms, or 1 silver. Elgrin smiled triumphantly and his ale cup came down with a loud crash.

“Aye, Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”

“I think I want that silver back!”

“Ha! Come and get it, aye.”

They grinned at each other savagely, like too old warriors facing off to the death and the board was reset.

Lethelin won the next three rounds. The third round she beat him so severely that the whole crowd went silent. Elgrin stared mutely at the board as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The guy keeping score was scribbling furiously on his slate, checking and double checking his figures.

Lethelin sat back in a huff and polished off the rest of her ale. Mitchell wasn’t sure how many she’d had already. She had a grin on her face like the cat that got the cream and then fucked the cow besides.

The man doing the numbers showed the slate to Lethelin and she just nodded, her grin still stuck to her face.

“Good master Elgrin, I do believe you owe me one crown and three silver.”

“Let me see that!”

Elgrin snatched the slate from the customer’s hand and stared at it, his eyes darting back and forth, his expression a thundercloud. Slowly, he set the tablet down on the table and reached into his vest and drew out a coin purse, placing one gold crown and three silver deliberately on the table.

Lethelin leaned forward, picked them up, bounced them in her hand, then removed one silver and tossed it to the man who’d kept score. The rest of it she placed right back in front of Elgrin.

“Your finest room, good master Elgrin. One crown, two silver.”

Elgrin’s eyes went wide and he stared at Lethelin like she’d just sprouted wings.

“You--?” he sputtered.

His eyes went to the Iva board, the coin on the table, and then to her, then back to the board and then to the smug little red-haired thief sitting demurely in her seat like and looking as innocent as you please.

The room was tense as Elgrin processed what had just happened. Mitchell began to wonder if he’d need to draw his sword when the innkeeper threw back his head and laughed.

He laughed and he kept laughing. He had tears in his eyes and he was clutching his gut.

“Stollar’s girthy cock and swinging balls!” he exclaimed. “My mother warned me about trusting red-haired lasses. Aye, she did!”

Elgrin guffawed some more and then pulled himself to his feet and bowed to Lethelin.

“The room is yours, young miss, with my sincerest welcome, aye. Best bit of Iva I’ve played in a dragon’s age. Stollar’s bloody balls, it was, aye.

Lethelin bowed graciously and gave him a kiss on his ruddy tan cheek.

“My thanks, master Elgrin.”

The dwarf blushed again, then he called for one of the serving girls to show them to their room.

Once the serving girl had left them outside the door with a key, they went to the railing and looked down into the common room where conversation was still going full force. Elgrin was gesticulating wildly, people were laughing and shaking their heads in disbelief.

“So how much of that was an act,” he asked Lethelin as she admired her handiwork.

Lethelin brushed some imaginary dust from her shoulder and pushed a stray lock of curly red hair behind her ear.

“I had the Three Dragons problem licked when I was sixteen high suns old. Alvi taught me. The hard part wasn’t beating Elgrin, it was playing bad enough to make him believe that he stood a chance.”

Mitchell stared at this gorgeous girl who always managed to find some new way to surprise him. She was magnificent.

“Did I ever tell you how amazing you are?”

She glanced up at him and then turned, putting her arms around his waist.

“I don’t think so. But now would be a good time.”

“You are amazing and I love you.”

She beamed and then stood up on her tiptoes for a kiss, which Mitchell obliged.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s see this room you got us for free.”